This post has been well received ever since I first posted it in 2009. I’m updating now to bring it up to 2014 standards.

There is a professional accounting niche that is little known – Film Production Accounting. I regularly receive queries to my web site, or my blog, about film production accounting and of how to enter this field. Most of the queries used to be from the Los Angeles area, but over the past 4 years there has been an equal number of queries from the Film Tax Incentive States.

FILM PRODUCTION ACCOUNTANT CATEGORIES AND EXPECTED PAY

Production accountants have traditionally fallen into the field without much of any kind of accounting background. I believe that film production is the last industry in the world to hire accountants who don’t have some kind of formal training in accounting. Currently, the field of film accounting is looking more appealing to a wide variety of CPA’s who are looking for something more markets to penetrate – or even to change careers. Most film accountants get into that position through a period of apprenticeship as assistant accountants. The levels usually go from File Clerk, 2nd Assistant Accountant, 1st Assistant Accountant to Key Production Accountant (sometimes referred to as the Production Auditor). Another position that is classified as an assistant accountant is the Payroll Accountant. The Payroll accountant is an expert in calculating complicated union payroll time sheets and is usually too busy to do much else than just that one function. A good payroll accountant can make in the area of $1800 to $2,000/week on the bigger Hollywood productions and are worth every cent.

The File Clerk would start in the range of $500-$900/Week, a 2nd Asst Accountant in the $900 – $1400/Week range, a 1st Assistant Accountant in the range of $1,500 to $2,300/Wk. usually the accountants get a little more on a big Studio production, and less on a small independent production.

THE SKILLS OF A FILM PRODUCTION ACCOUNTANT

The Film Production Accountant needs to be conversant with every area of film production, if not downright expert when it comes to predicting cost overruns. The rapidity of spending during the production of the feature film, or TV show, is so high that it would be a nightmare for someone who hasn’t been exposed to the usual reporting system. That’s why an experienced Film Production Accountant doesn’t get out of bed for less than $2,500 a week (a 5 day week). Experienced production accountants demand and get at least $3,500/5 day week, and if they go on location ask for another $1,000 to cover off Saturdays worked (even though they don’t need to work many Saturdays).

The Film Production Accountant’s job falls into the same three categories as any other accounting function:

– Bookkeeping: the speed of bookkeeping has to be experienced to understand. Petty Cash is often in the $60,000 to $80,000 a week range.

-Reporting: there are very specific Budgeting and Weekly Cost Report formats which can be a bit of an IQ test until you get used to it. This type of report is used throughout the film production world from Australia to India to Europe to North America.

-Auditing: because the money appears to be spent so helter-skelter it can be abused, mostly by producers and department heads. It’s up to the production accountant to see the signals and prevent it before someone embarrasses themselves. There really are lists kept of those deemed to be A, B or C listed. Those that are B and C listed are almost always because of their inability to control their departmental budgets.

So, if you have an accounting background you can pick it up very quickly, but you really do need some experience first. The fact that you’re intimately dealing with so many facets of the actual film production it’s certainly a challenge and, I have to say after 30 years, tons more challenging and rewarding than working in manufacturing, banking, etc.

MY JOURNEY TO, AND IN, FILM PRODUCTION ACCOUNTING

My own background started out in Engineering in the 70’s. Then, when I graduated I saw that open pit mining wasn’t doing it for me, so I started working with an accounting firm to earn a designation. My original purpose was to become skilled enough to be able to use both Engineering and Accounting to help failing businesses turn around. However, after I got my accounting designation I discovered that I would be taking a steep cut in pay to go back to being a junior engineer so I took a job as a Chief Accountant/Controller at a place with about 15 branches. After 5 years I went out on my own, starting a small accounting practice with a couple of other people. After a couple of years of beating the bushes and working 7 days a week I saw that I could make more money as a Film Production Accountant than I could in my practice, so I dropped my office space, my 2 staff, and started working as an assistant accountant.

STEPPING STONE TO FILM PRODUCING AND PRODUCTION MANAGING

Like other industries, after spending many years accounting for and auditing the money, including advising producers and production managers, you start to get the idea that you can do as good as, or better job, at producing. There are many production accountants who have gone on to related film production careers – although, funnily enough, they often keep quiet about it. I presume because they want to distance themselves from the infamous “Blue Suit” – the much maligned Big Studio Exec. (Not a job for me – man, talk about pressure).

THE DOWNSIDE

A downside to Production Accounting is that you don’t ever have a JOB. You get CONTRACTS which last anywhere from 5 weeks to 9 months (pretty seldom longer than that). I’d say that my average contract on a film or TV production in the $20Mil to $40Mil range was about 6 or 7 months. Honestly, I really liked the fact of working with different people. I have often talked with other people in the biz, and we almost all agree that the independence that brings is worth the stress of looking for contracts. Once you’ve been in the business for 3 years, and if you haven’t messed up, you’ll be on call, especially if you’re willing to travel.

So, there’s the pros and cons to getting into the film production industry as an accountant.

HOW TO BUST IN

I spend some time talking about ways to bust in during the weekend workshop. With the advent of tighter and tighter money I see even more opportunities for film accountants as aides to producers, or even film accountants producing projects on their own. Subjects like Film Tax Incentives, verification of paperwork required during Crowdfunding of “Accredited Investors”, cash-flow schedules, familiarity with equity terms, etc can all be easily learned by film accountants, or by professional accountants and bookkeepers interested in penetrating this market. (If you are interested in how this all fits together see this short video).

One of the daily tasks of a Film Production Accountant is to prepare a “Hot Cost”. It’s a major task that would seem to be impossibly grueling, unless you knew the system of things that is behind the Hot Cost.

As an exercise, recall your favorite movie scene, then try to imagine what it would take to estimate the costs of all that scene’s cast, extras, crew of every kind, as well as the various gun battles, sinking ships, etc etc. Well, that’s the task assigned to the Production Accountant on a daily basis. It can be a challenge, especially since the Film Accountant is expected to send out the report by lunch time the next day.

How is that even possible?

In my opinion the task becomes not only possible, but routine for four reasons:

A well drilled and standardized reporting system unique to the industry.

The daily film and television production reporting system has been perfected over the last century. It could even be described as militaristic. The primary tools are the Shooting Schedule, the Call Sheet and the Daily Production Report as well as the SAG cast report called an “Exhibit G”. The Production Accountant knows how to pull off the information needed to prepare a Hot Cost within 2 to 4 hours.

A working understanding of the Union and Guild Payroll Rules.

In addition to the well known guilds (SAG, DGA, WGA) there are several different union locals under the IATSE umbrella (International Alliance of Theatrical & Stage Employees). The cast and crew regularly work in excess of 12 or 13 hours, resulting in numerous penalties that requires a familiarity with union and guild rules, so a thorough understanding of those agreements.

A hands on familiarity with all costs as they occur

The Production Accountant works with a team that processes purchase orders, timesheets, credit card/petty cash reports, etc. and every document is initialed or signed by the Production Accountant. All of the costs flow into a unique general ledger software system used throughout the film and television production industry.

A thorough grounding in the line-by-line items in the Approved Budget

Once the costs are gathered together they need to be compared, line-by-line, with the Approved Budget for that particular production. The Production Accountant not only is a major contributor to the preparation of the Approved Budget, but he/she and the team of assistant accountants use the Approved Budget every day as they code costs to be entered to the general ledger system.

In summary, a working understanding of each of those four categories provides the Production Accounting Accountant with the ability to comfortably pull off the Hot Cost in less than a few hours.

If you’re interesting in taking the first step towards each of these categories above, come to our Film Accounting 101 Weekend Workshop, coming up in Chicago in May, 2018..

For several years now I have been teaching the functions of a Film Production Payroll Accountant. The job is in high demand, and is well paid; however, outside of my one or two workshops a year there is no avenue for someone to learn that role. So, drawing on my experience of fun and effective weekend workshops, I have developed a series of online film payroll courses. But, first let’s backup and look at the role of a Film production Accountant and what his/her skills must be.

SKILL OF THE FILM PRODUCTION PAYROLL ACCOUNTANT

So what does a Film Production Payroll Accountant do? The Payroll Accountant has nothing to do with the processing of government and union deductions and benefits. That’s almost always processed by one of a handful of Entertainment Payroll Services. The skill that the payroll accountant gets paid for is his/her smooth application of the various union and guild payroll rules.

AGREEMENTS WITH THE AMPTP

The unions and guilds commonly paid by a Film Production Payroll Accountant are SAG (cast), Director’s Guild (the Unit Production Manager and the various Assistant Directors), IATSE (Crew) and Teamsters (Drivers). (I am ignoring the Writer’s Guild only because there is usually one person to pay and that fee is usually arranged and known well before production starts). Each of these unions/guilds make agreements with the AMPTP (Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers). Some of these agreements are monsters (the SAG Agreement is in the range of 700 pages); however, there are very specific rules within each of the Agreements related to payroll.

THE USUAL PAYROLL CATEGORIES THE FILM PAYROLL ACCOUNTANT MUST KNOW

The Film Production Payroll Accountant knows where to find those rules, and has become very familiar with the references. I always make a summary of the applicable rules, which I call my “Cheat Sheet”. That summary is usually no more than a page and half long, widely spaced.

I do “Cheat Sheets” for each Guild, each IATSE Agreement and each Teamster Agreement. The usual breakdown of guild/union Agreements is:

NOTE: There are more SAG Schedules; however, if you know the Schedule A and B rules you can then very easily pickup the payroll rules associated with the other Schedules, including the payment of Schedule C , F and Stunts)

DGA (UPM and all levels of Assistant Directors),

IATSE Low Budget Theatrical (for any feature film production across America and Canada less than $14.2 Million)

IATSE Area Standards (applies to all Television and Features greater than $14.2Million throughout middle America including Georgia, Louisiana, Ohio, DC, Florida, etc but excluding the New York and surrounding area)

The world of union and guild agreements can get overwhelming, so just remember that the payroll accountant just needs to concentrate on FOUR types pf payroll rules:

Overtime,

Violation of Rest Periods,

Violation of Meal Periods and,

finally, any Travel related rules and allowances.

All of the Agreements highlight those rules. It’s simply a matter of breaking that ground in an orderly manner, and getting familiar with the rules through practice.

USING AN LMS (Learning Management System) TO CREATE ONLINE COURSES

A couple of years ago I went out of my way to produce two really sparkling online courses from which I’ve received positive feedback. I used an LMS (Learning Management System) called Skyprep. It allows me to use clear mp4 videos, to link easily to downloadable material, and even offer tests and certificates.

Due to the success of those two courses, SAG Schedule A and SAG Schedule B, I decided to use Skyprep to update three more online payroll courses. The new courses are:

DAG payroll is deceptively tricky. At first glance it would appear to be straightforward, and indeed it is; however, a lot is happening on that timesheet. This course takes you though their salaries, production fees, extended days, rest period violations, completion of assignment and their various “allowances”.

The course includes:

7 instructional videos,

links to a bookmarked Article 13 of the DGA Basic Agreement (which covers all payroll factors),

a Power Point of the course,

a One-Page Cheat sheet describing each element of payroll as well as the reference to the Article 13 of the DGA BA,

The IATSE Area Standards crew payroll covers all television and features over $14.2 million throughout middle America (including Georgia, Louisiana, DC, Ohio, Mississippi, etc).

This course takes you though all payroll related rules pertaining to the payment of crew payroll, including overtime, rest period violations, meal penalty calculations and related travel rules including the payment of “idle time”.

The course includes:

6 instructional videos,

Links to all materials required,

A bookmarked IATSE Area Standards Agreement for easy reference of each payroll element,

a One-Page Cheat sheet describing each element of payroll as well as the reference to the Agreement,

and Excel time-card templates formulated for each of Feature and Television rules, for your ease of calculating IATSE Area Standards payroll in future.

IATSE Low Budget Theatrical is applicable to crew payroll for all feature film productions throughout America that has a budget less than $14.2 Million.

This course takes you though all payroll related rules pertaining to the payment of crew payroll, including overtime, rest period violations, meal penalty calculations and related travel rules including the payment of “idle time”.

Online Courses for the west Coast and the east Coast, as well as Teamsters, is in development. I have the Excel Templates made, as well as the one page cheat sheets and bookmarked Agreements, I just need to complete the teaching videos and assemble the elements into online courses.

Note: I continue to deliver weekend workshops when we have a group of 15-20 persons committed to attending. For details please contact Helene at heleneworkshops@gmail.com

Quite often my workshop attendees go back to their respective cities and towns, get busy, and I don’t hear from them for months/years. Occasionally, I get a feedback from someone else about a former attendee, and that is always very gratifying.

A TESTIMONIAL FROM AN EXPERIENCED FILM PRODUCTION ACCOUNTANT

Here is some very positive feedback about one of my Film Payroll Workshop attendees. What’s particularly validating, at least for me, is that the author is a 26 year industry veteran:

“I’m a production accountant and I felt I had to write to you. I’ve had several people ask me about your classes and unfortunately I could only tell them that I didn’t know anything. Of course, in this industry getting outside training was never there for many of us back in the day. We learned as we went.

I needed a filler for my payroll accountant on a series I’m currently working on – I found LaVeda Lewis thru a friend. She came in needed no help and got a hefty load of payroll, new starts & SAG completed beautifully (week before shoot starts). I asked her who trained her since she had only worked on a few projects. It was you!

So just wanted to say – I will now be able to tell people to take your classes with confidence that they will learn things the right way. Thank you for what you do – the next generation will be off to a great start because of it!

Have a great weekend!” – Shari Sontag, Production Accountant, May 25/17 (See Shari’s 26 years of experience by clicking here).

We have another payroll workshop coming up in August. To learn more,click here.

Here is an email that I received on May 25/17. It’s a great testimonial, from an experienced production accountant, encouraging me to carry on with the Payroll Workshops:

_______________________________________________

“I’m a production accountant and I felt I had to write to you. I’ve had several people ask me about your classes and unfortunately I could only tell them that I didn’t know anything. Of course, in this industry getting outside training was never there for many of us back in the day. We learned as we went.

I needed a filler for my payroll accountant on a series I’m currently working on – I found LaVeda Lewis thru a friend. She came in, needed no help, and got a hefty load of payroll, new starts & SAG completed beautifully (week before shoot starts). I asked her who trained her since she had only worked on a few projects. It was you!

So just wanted to say – I will now be able to tell people to take your classes with confidence that they will learn things the right way. Thank you for what you do – the next generation will be off to a great start because of it!”

-Shari Sontag, Film Production Accountant, May 25, 2017

_______________________________________________

The two-day live workshop will concentrate on the actual calculation of gross payroll for each of SAG, DGA, IATSE (Low Budget Agreement and Area Standards).

The emphasis is on the practical application of the guild/ union payroll rules according to each Agreement.

This practical workshop is vital for anybody wanting to work as a Film Payroll Accountant, or as a Line Producer who must understand the various union /guild agreements for budgeting purposes.

Howard Rodman, a WGA board member during the last strike, and now the elected president of the WGA West, is recorded in Deadline Hollywood as saying, “This is an era where the companies are doing astonishingly well – the companies’ profits have doubled in the last decade, now approaching $50 billion a year. So much of that profit originates with our work. The companies forget that.”

WGA HALF-TRUTH RHETORIC

Not true. The half-truth rhetoric from the WGA is equivalent to the Trump administration saying that there isn’t any need to address climate change. It’s a regressive attitude of a small self-interest group at the expense of the 423,000 people who are affected by a WGA strike (see the May 2016 Bureau of Statistics reference in my last blog).

“COMPANIES” ARE THE ENEMY FOR BORROWING BILLIONS

This WGA rhetoric attempts to make “companies” the enemy. Those are the same companies who are taking great risks, borrowing, and paying out billions, to create content and employ more television writers, actors and crew than have ever been employed before in the history of the industry!

Let’s take Netflix, for example. It is now in debt to the tune of $3Billion in order to create content. And that debt makes it possible to hire a record number of television writers who would otherwise be unemployed. Now before you say, “Yeah, but what about all their profits!” let’s follow the money, i.e. the cash money.

ARE THOSE SAME COMPANIES ACHIEVING CASH FLOW PROFITS?

Market Watch has this really cool chart which shows that Netflix has had a negative free cash flow for the last three years – Netflix is spending more cash than it’s getting in, in spite of huge borrowings! The mystery of accounting techniques is that, yes, it can appear that there are profits when the cash flow sucks, big time.

Let’s hope that Netflix, and the other “companies” targeted by the WGA, do reach the point of making cash profits – lots and lots of profits, so that we can all work in this great industry.

THE WGA PENSION PLANS

The final bit of rhetoric that makes my teeth grind is the complaint about the WGA’s pension plan. Apparently it will be depleted in another 3 years. When I asked a director friend of mine if the DGA suffered the same malady, he scoffed. The DGA pension is very strong! Why, I asked, would the DGA pension be strong and the WGA pension broke, when they each get an equivalent amount of funding from the producers? The only answer we could come up with is Bad Management. The WGA misused their pension funds, now want to strike for more. For those of you with children, does that sound familiar?

LEST WE FORGET – THE DIRGE OF 2007

During the 2007 strike the Milken Institute said, “The 2007 Hollywood writers’ strike dealt a blow to California’s already struggling economy and is expected to result in a loss of 37,700 jobs and $2.1 billion in lost output through the end of 2008”.

In summary,

The WGA writers are not the Davey Crockett’s at the Alamo. More television writers are working now than ever in the history of television.

Another tax season is almost over. Once you’ve got your breath back, it’s time to plan your CPE credits for the year. If you’ve been around for a while, the same-old study topics start to feel repetitious. If you agree, have a look at the largely unknown field of Film Accounting.

FILM INDUSTRY AS AN OPPORTUNITY

Within the film and television industry there are several sources of new revenue opportunities for CPA’s. The most obvious opportunity for CPA’s is to perform audits of the Production Cost Report for the State Film Tax Incentives; however, there are several other opportunities:

Administering the State tax credit applications and forms for the production. This can be quite lucrative.

Performing the bookkeeping for the “Indie” film, television and documentary productions.

Tax Consulting and Filing of the corporate and personal tax returns for the “Indie” productions and producers.

Consulting to monetize the State tax incentives.

Performing the Post-Accounting duties for the producer (i.e. bookkeeping of the production records after the heavy Shoot Period but before release of the project).

FILM INDUSTRY SPECIFIC PRACTICES

The best way to learn more about the film industry specific practices, terms and unique general ledger software is to come to a workshop. The workshops are hands-on film accounting activities performed with proprietary general ledger software used only in the film and television industry.

FILM ACCOUNTING 101 IN MAY, 2017

The next workshop is in May, before the Memorial Day weekend, in Chicago, IL. According to rave reviews, nobody leaves the workshops bored.

How did one of the richest and best paid guilds come to the brink of a strike? Deadline Hollywood has an excellent summary of the WGA leader’s rhetoric, starting with Sept 21/15 right through to April 10.17. It’s my purpose to present some of their rhetoric and to refute it with real facts and figures.

99.2% OF THOSE WORKING IN THE INDUSTRY WOULD BE HIT

First of all, let’s look to see how many writers are involved, and compare that to the number of other people will be affected by a WGA strike. In May of 2016, the Bureau of Labor Statistics published that 422,560 people were employed within the “Motion Picture and Video Industries”. Out of the 422,560 people, only 3,460 people are classified as “Writers and Authors”. To make a point, that is only 0.8% of the total number of people employed within the industry were Writers at the time of that survey, leaving 99.2% of the industry severely impacted. Hmmmm. Without getting into anything else, I think that those numbers tell you something, especially when compared to a writer’s average annual salaries – see further below.

RHETORIC – AVERAGE WRITER’S INCOME HAS GONE DOWN

The rhetoric raised by the WGA to support a strike bid leaves me scratching my head. Per Deadline Hollywood, the WGA Reps are saying, “During this ‘peak TV’ era, when more television is being produced than ever, and when everyone who works in television is finding a sellers’ market for their skills, why is the average TV writer seeing their income go down?” This seems astonishing! How could the average salaries go down?

COMPARING 23 EPISODES WITH 13 EPISODES

Well, in the “old days” the TV writers were working generally, on 22 or 23 episodes a season – not always, mind you, but generally speaking. These days the trend is toward producing 13 episodes a season – this is the new formula supported by streaming services and the various Cable television programs. So, yes, a writer who worked on 23 episodes would make more than someone who worked on 13 episodes – Duh! The elephant in the room is: How many more writers are actually making a living now as compared to them good ‘ol days? Well, the answer is a lot more.

COMPARING 2009 WITH 2015

To give you an idea of how very few active television writers there were in 2009, here is what Charles B. Slocum (Asst Exec Dir of WGA West) said in Aug/Sept 2009, “In 24 hours, NBC has just three hours of dramas and comedies. And, on some nights those make way for Dateline or Deal No Deal.” So, it’s a fair conclusion that very few writers indeed were working in those good ‘ol days.

Here is a comparative statistic from Deadline Hollywood going back to 2015 when the streaming companies (HBO, Netflix, Starz, Amazon) just started to hit their stride: “The guild’s records also show that in 2015, TV writers earned $803 million under the WGA West’s basic contract, for an average annual income of $194,478, which was $48,936 more than they made in 2006.” Are we to support the writers because “the average tv writer has seen their average income go down?”

DO YOU DISAGREE WITH A WGA STRIKE?

I have more tables to support the writers fees, including their residuals, all based on their WGA 2014-2017 Theatrical and Television Agreement. However, I think you get the point – another writer’s strike is unsupportable. You can have a look at their “Schedule of Minimums” published on their web site.

Should I start a petition? If it won’t stop a strike, at least the WGA will know how the majority feels. Let me know how you feel.

The primary difficulty I see with the CPA penetrating the film production market is knowing what questions to ask. The CPA, generally thought of as a consultant in the usual business world, is often tongue-tied when it comes to discussing the film and television business. Rest assured , there are several interesting ways that the CPA can assist Film and Television Producers.

MOST CPA’S ARE INTERESTED IN THE FILM BUSINESS

When I speak with CPA’s about the film industry I find a lot of interest in the field. Film and Television, as a business, promises something different and unique from the usual businesses they deal with. Also, it helps that the Film & Television Industry has excellent and consistent revenue streams.

SOME OF THE USUAL QUESTIONS CPA’s ASK:

What sort of accounting services does the Film Industry require from a CPA?

What are the industry specific practices, reports and terminology?

I hear about the Film Tax Incentives in some States. How does that open the door to new business for my practice?

What software is used during a film or television production?

Once the project is filmed what services would be required from a CPA in “Post”?

Can the CPA help with arranging financing?

If you do some research, I think you’ll find that there is very little, if any, information available online – and most of what you’ll find is authored by me.

WHAT PRODUCERS EXPECT FROM A CPA

Producers and Studio Execs have high expectations of anyone they contract with, especially a CPA who charges out at an hourly rate. They will expect the CPA to be familiar with their everyday terminology and to contribute to solutions. Just a few terms considered common are:

Inventory (the current cost of developing and producing “product”),

Fringes (government and union benefits),

Back-End (final equity available),

IATSE Turnaround (penalties assessed by crew when not enough given enough overnight rest),

SAG residuals,

etc

If you are interested in expanding in some way into the Film Industry there are a couple of ways you can learn more about it.

However, getting to the workshop location, and breaking away from the office, isn’t always possible – for you or for me. At the end of each online course qualifying for CPE I ask the student if the “stated objectives of the course” were met. There has never been a “No” yet…. that’s 100% of the time every student has said that the stated objectives were met. For more detailed information about the online courses see http://www.filmaccounting.com/filmaccounting-cpe.htm

Once an Emerging Producer has a trusted, working script the major roadblock to overcome is financing. The concept of financing has been fraught with Ponzi schemes and false promises since money was first invented. Is it any wonder that there is a general distrust of anyone asking for financing? … Let alone someone with little experience and gaining the trust of investors, studio exec’s, casting directors, completion guarantors, experienced line producers, etc.

The purpose of this article is to help you break down the barriers to financing your film simply by educating you on the terms and processes taken for granted by film industry professional film producers. Watch the short video and you’ll see what I mean.

THE FILM INDUSTRY BUSINESS CYCLE

The best way I know to understand the film industry business cycle is to break it down into the basic functions of the full business cycle. The practical categories used by Producers in their everyday work are:

Like this:

Film Payroll accountants are a category that is never heard about outside of the film industry. A Film Payroll Accountant with a couple of years experience usually makes in the range of$2,000/Week. What does a Film Payroll Accountant need to know and how much demand is there for their services?

A PUBLISHED “WANTED AD’s” FOR FILM ACCOUNTANTS

There is one source that many studios, producers and production accountants use to find available film accountants, including film payroll accountants. It’s referred to as “Emily’s List”. Those who post there are Producers looking for various levels of film accountants to work across America, and even up into Canada. The internet address for Emily’s List is at http://www.ricegortonpictures.com/blog/

ALMOST 40% OF POSTS ARE FOR PAYROLL ACCOUNTANTS

I went through the last 100 listings or so, to see how many postings were for Payroll Accountants. I found that 4 out of 10 listings are for either a Film Payroll Accountant, or for a Film Payroll Clerk. That makes the other 6 out of 10 listings shared by Key Accountants, 1st Assistant Accountants, 2nd Assistant Accountants and File Clerks. Wow…. that proves to me that the Payroll Accountant is in demand.

NOT YOUR USUAL PAYROLL ACCOUNTANT

Film payroll accounting is all about knowing the union rules for cast (Screen Actors Guild), directors and assistant directors (Directors Guild of America), crew (IATSE) and drivers (Teamsters). The skill is derived from knowing how to calculate the “Gross Pay” – that is, the amount of gross pay after factoring in overtime, meal penalties and rest violations. The government and union withholdings and contributions are calculated and reported/remitted by the payroll service.

PRACTICE, PRACTICE and PRACTICE SOME MORE

So, the task becomes knowing how to calculate union gross payroll, and that’s all we do for 2 full days – right from beginning to end. You will be left with all of the reference material for SAG, DGA, IATSE Area Standards, and IATSE Low Budget Agreement, as well as on-line access to the full courses and materials for future reference. (A Michigan Teamster Agreement is reviewed at the end of the 2nd day; however, after doing the above it seems pretty simple).

The payroll workshop is over the weekend of May 20th and 21st, 2017 in Chicago.

Hope to see you there! (Note to all you CPA’s, this is a fun way to earn 16 CPE points!)